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MC annually adds $113 million to area economy

Study shows MC annually adds $113 million to area economy

January 12, 2015

Twelve counties in East Tennessee would be poorer without Maryville College – at least $113 million a year poorer, according to a recent economic impact study.

The College recently hired Dr. Fred Martin, a local educational consultant, to run the numbers. Looking at a five-year period (2010 to 2015), he estimated that the College contributed more than $567 million to the region’s economy – an average of more than $113 million a year.

The study focused on three major areas of the College’s economic impact: local business volume generated by College expenditures ($273 million); local full-time jobs created by Maryville College’s presence (18,778 in five years, including the College’s own 1,202 full-time jobs counted over the five-year period); and individual income generated by College expenditures ($294 million).

The primary counties affected were Blount, Knox, Sevier, Anderson, Roane, Loudon, Monroe, McMinn, Union, Grainger, Jefferson and Cocke counties, with approximately 78 percent of the College's expenditures being made, on the average, in those counties.

Martin said his analysis was based on the Caffrey model, which was developed in 1968 and considered a standard by the American Council on Education. The Caffrey model is considered more sophisticated and more reliable than other models that simply apply a single economic impact multiplier, Martin explained.

Maryville College President Dr. William T. “Tom” Bogart said that the financial impact is impressive, adding that the College also provides value to the area that is impossible to calculate.

“The energy of the students, the diversity of cultural activities, the recreational benefits of the campus and College Woods, and the long-term effects of educated people attracted to the area are just some of the real impacts of Maryville College,” he said.

Martin said that sort of benefit cannot be forgotten.

“Companies simply wouldn’t locate here if they couldn’t find the human resources they needed or the opportunities for personal growth that the College offers this region,” he said.